“Then shall we rest for 20 minutes and continue?”
“Sure.”
But...
Maybe it was because I had accepted such a completely foreign form of [Illusion]—a strange sensation brushed through my mind.
“......”
In the end, the butterflies I had created were forgeries. They moved somewhere, carrying my imagery and mastery within them.
“...Gray.”
“Yes?”
“Earlier... about those butterflies. Where did I tell them to go? I don’t remember giving them any command.”
“...?”
Gray blinked, then looked off into the distance. Despite the chaos of all we’d studied and practiced, she remembered more precisely than I did.
“...Oh? You’re right. We didn’t give them any command.”
“What?”
“The butterflies just disappeared. We never told them where to go. We were purely focused on the illusion. That’s... weird.”
In the end, illusion is the imitation of reality. It must contain the intent to mimic.
Through that fading sense—
A thread of clarity began to take shape in my mind about where those forged butterflies had gone.
‘Form, phenomenon, space, perception... beyond those... what else can I forge?’
Then it hit me.
Why my mastery had remained frozen at a standstill—
‘...Because I’d already achieved perfect mastery.’
For almost a week after hitting 89.99%,
I had repeated what I already knew. It was inertia—habit.
‘That’s why I couldn’t reach 90%.’
I was already operating at near-perfect proficiency. What meaning could there be in pushing further?
‘The next domain isn’t granted at 90%. It’s something I was supposed to find for myself.’
So how does one find it?
The answer lay with the butterflies.
‘...Where they disappeared to.’
I retraced the events in order.
I had created many butterflies. And lost a few of them.
Where had they gone?
When I created large swarms of butterflies, some would inevitably slip my control. They flew out of the Cain Gym and vanished.
Even though they carried my mana, at some point, their signatures cut out. Their forms disappeared completely.
At the time, I simply found it odd. In all my countless illusions, I’d never felt that before. As if the butterflies had will—resisting my command.
I chalked it up to my own inadequacy with the unfamiliar illusion.
But—
No.
Suddenly, it struck like lightning in my head.
『World Forgery』, now at its 9th-level ultimate mastery, had taken on the form of butterflies and flown toward a new frontier.
Where had they gone?
An unbelievable conclusion slipped into my mind—
Not to another place in space.
If it’s truly 『World Forgery』—
Then the world is defined by two axes.
Not just space—
But:
“...Time, or dimension.”
That’s where the butterflies had gone.
To forge that.
And the moment my thoughts reached that point—
A series of incredible system windows burst into view.
< 『World Forgery』 Mastery: 90% (▲0.01%) >
< ⧉ Congratulations! You have ascended to a new height in 9th-level [Illusion-type] supernatural mastery. News of your ability to forge the world itself has spread far and wide, and now, even stars in the distant sky have heard your story! >
< ⧉ An utterly unknowable star (...?) has delivered a forged formula to you! >
< Three new formulas have been added beyond [Form], [Phenomenon], [Space], and [Perception]. In addition, you can now fuse formulas and forge other people’s formulas. >
< Newly Added Formulas: [Unidentified Formula], [Time], [Memory] >
Ah!
I clenched my fists.
At last.
── .
Simultaneously, a ray of dawnlight beamed in through the window.
From the night sky above—
Into the Cain Gym.
“Huh? Huh? What is this feeling?”
Gray, who’d been dazedly resting beside me, perked up in surprise.
Because a [Stigma] was descending.
Most cadets wouldn’t even notice it. But Gray’s sensitivity was... different.
“It’s a [Stigma].”
“Stigma? Why all of a sudden...?”
“Someone must’ve had a very good day.”
“Oh...”
I feigned ignorance. After all, we’d been training in 『Glass Butterfly』. If she realized I had received the Stigma, she might feel robbed.
“Whoever it was... lucky bastard.”
“Indeed.”
Gray turned to look out the window too.
“Damn lucky motherfucker...”
“...Why are you cursing?”
“What? Anyone luckier than me can go suck shit.”
“......”
│ㅅㅇ)
Meanwhile, if that sinisterly hidden presence just now had a name, it would be “Spy Star │ㅅㅇ)”.
The most useless, perverted little shit of a star.
And yet, still one of the gods of this world.
‘That makes two [Stigmas] now.’
Last time it was “Peace Star ☮”. This time, “Spy Star │ㅅㅇ)”.
“Anyway, Professor. You think those Kreutz assholes saw that too?”
“They probably did.”
When a [Stigma] descends like this, anyone with interest—even on the far side of the continent—can sense it. Like when someone pulls a legendary item in a mobile game and the entire server gets a notice.
“Two Stigmas in two weeks. Those pricks must be losing their minds.”
Gray laughed.
“Indeed.”
I was curious too.
What kind of expressions were they making right now?
“Would be nice if some friendly star gave us a peek...”
I subtly tried to bait “Spy Star │ㅅㅇ)”—
But the bastard didn’t even twitch.
Useless star through and through.
Let’s check 『World Forgery』.
In any case, that could wait.
First, I inspected the new formulas.
< Newly Added Formulas: [Unidentified Formula], [Time], [Memory] >
Let’s leave the unknown one aside for now.
[Time]
[Memory]
These two were earned through my own mastery.
Just the names alone...
They felt dangerous.
‘Memory forgery?’
Could it mean altering people’s memories?
I checked the description window—and my hunch was right.
‘...This is an incredibly dangerous ability.’
This formula allows the forging of memory—not just of humans, but anything that stores memories.
Any memory. Any sensory detail.
‘There’s a condition.’
You can only use it once per person.
Once in a lifetime.
No second chances.
And just accessing the target’s memory to view it is already considered a supernatural act.
‘The condition must be... when the target recalls that memory? But then...’
I turned my head.
There was Gray, removing her sneakers.
If I forged one of her memories... She’d live her entire life believing that fabricated memory was real.
The psychological recoil was intense.
I couldn’t do it.
“For now, let’s keep this.”
‘Next up... [Time Forgery].’
This one had my hopes even higher.
I tried it immediately.
『World Forgery: Time Forgery』
Two input fields appeared in my mind:
[Seconds / Frames]
What was this?
I followed my intuition and entered a value.
『World Forgery: Time Forgery [10 seconds / 60 frames]』
And as I activated the ability—
“......”
Nothing happened.
“...?”
I had just cast the ability... but there was no visible change.
What the hell?
“By the way, Professor.”
That’s when Gray, who was messing with her toes, called out.
“I’m listening.”
“What are you doing the day after tomorrow?”
The day after tomorrow? Why all of a sudden—
And then, the entire world around us—the gym, Gray, everything—shattered.
“......”
When I opened my eyes, I was back in the gym.
I looked around for a few seconds, confirmed that my mana had been drained—
And then Gray started fiddling with her toes again.
“By the way, Professor.”
Ah. That voice.
“You asked what I was doing the day after tomorrow?”
“Eh??”
Gray looked up at me in shock, her eyes wide.
“...How did you know?”
Ah, now I completely understood.
From the moment I activated [Time Forgery], a forged time loop had started.
Once the preset time elapsed, the world returned to the point of origin.
‘This is... a monstrous formula.’
But it had drawbacks.
‘It consumes an enormous amount of mana.’
Just now, simulating 10 seconds at 60 frames drained 189 MP.
For a mere ten seconds.
“Professor?”
“Oh, right. I just had a feeling you were going to say that. It felt like something you’d ask.”
“...Creepy. So, what are you doing the day after tomorrow?”
“Nothing planned. It’s the weekend.”
“Hm...”
“Gray. Since we’re on break—how about a little game?”
“A game?”
Might as well use the moment to test a theory.
I pulled nine 1-Hika coins from my wallet and handed them to Gray.
“You’ll toss these and guess: more heads or tails?”
“If I win?”
“You keep all the coins.”
“And if you win?”
“Let me flick your forehead.”
“That’s so unfair!”
“Then you can flick me too.”
“Deal.”
Right.
The moment I got [Time Forgery], a burning question arose—
Could I cheat at gambling?
If yes—my life of instant fortune begins.
......The result?
Failure.
‘This is the catch with [Forgery].’
Dropping the framerate to 1 reduced the mana cost to almost nothing—3 or 4 MP.
But the world started lagging and stuttering, and the coin toss became unpredictable.
“Ah, I lost...”
Gray gave me a wary glance, so I gave her a light flick. Then switched the game.
“How about rock-paper-scissors?”
“Yep!”
This one?
100% win rate.
After five rounds, I stopped.
Gray only ever threw rock.
‘Fascinating. What’s the mechanism behind this?’
Could it be another matter of mastery level? Would gambling become predictable at 99.9%?
I still wasn’t sure...
‘There was that neuroscience paper I read—said people choose rock-paper-scissors moves seconds before they’re conscious of it.’
I couldn’t fully explain this formula yet. But here’s the summary:
When cause-and-effect is solid, it works.
When there’s heavy randomness, it doesn’t.
‘...But does that make sense?’
My brain started to hurt.
Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle. Chaos theory. Laplace’s demon.
...all kinds of theories denying determinism spun through my head before coming to a halt.
This was a game world, after all.
‘Who knows. The rules of reality here are probably different.’
So, could I use this for money?
Not roulette, obviously.
‘But poker... now that could work.’
But then again, big gambling halls use supernatural detection devices. And 『World Forgery』 is a [Forbidden] ability.
If I got caught?
It’d be off with my head.
So yeah—ultimately a failed idea.
‘If stocks existed here, that would’ve been fun.’
Like ultrashort-term flash trading... it might’ve been possible.
I’d need to think more about potential uses.
And then a thought hit me:
Could I... use this like that?
『World Forgery: Time Forgery [10 seconds / 30 frames]』
“Gray.”
“Hm? Why do you keep calling me?”
“I have something I want to say to {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} you.”
“What is it?”
She blinked.
“S-”
I was about to say something stupid, but even if it was fake, saying that to a cadet as a professor was too much, so I changed it.
“―Perish.”
“...Eh?”
“Just die.”
“Why...?”
“No reason. Just die a lot.”
“I don’t wanna.”
Gray reflexively flipped me off.
“You die, Professor—”
And then, the world shattered again.
‘It works.’
It really works.
I can use it to test other people’s reactions too.
‘This is fun.’
Forget practicality—
The formula itself was thrilling.
Felt like I’d been handed the world’s greatest toy.
‘Still, the mana cost is extreme, and I can’t hold it long at my current mastery... wait...?’
If I can use this to observe someone’s reaction—
Oh!!
An exclamation mark lit up in my mind.
I hurriedly activated the Crystal Orb and made a call.
To Adele.
– “Hello, Professor~”
You picked the perfect time to answer.